WO2002042185A1

WO2002042185A1 - Sorting conveyor with base module

Info

Publication number: WO2002042185A1
Application number: PCT/EP2001/010923
Authority: WO
Inventors: Manfred Boller; Willy Maier
Original assignee: Siemens Schweiz Ag
Priority date: 2000-11-23
Filing date: 2001-09-21
Publication date: 2002-05-30
Also published as: EP1209105A1; AU2002213944A1; US20030183482A1; EP1335871A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a sorting conveyor with a number of transport cars (2, 42, 68), each comprising a laterally tipping delivery trough (6, 6', 44, 44'), a support unit (4, 4', 46, 46', 76) for the delivery trough which may be rotated about a tipping axis, lever arms (16, 16', 50, 50', 70), running in slots (28, 28') and engaging with the support unit and guides (12, 20, 22, 56, 58, 78) for a support unit tipping movement and a lifting movement of the lever arms, for producing the tipping action. The delivery trough may thus be tipped when only one of both of the lever arms is moved upwards or downwards, engages with the support unit by means of a slide seating and are guided such that said arms may only perform an essentially vertical linear movement upwards or downwards.

Description

description

Sorting conveyor with basic module

The invention relates to a sorting conveyor with a number of transport trolleys which have laterally tiltable storage trays for piece goods to be sorted.

Such a sorting conveyor is known from German patent DE 40 42 708 C2. A sorting conveyor is described therein, which has a circumferential row of support units for laterally tiltable storage trays, which are moved past a storage station along a conveyor chassis and are loaded there with piece goods to be sorted. The carrying units loaded with piece goods are then moved past a row of unloading or receiving stations in which the storage trays can be selectively tilted by means of actuating arms arranged on both sides in order to unload the piece goods to be sorted. The carrying units are designed as transport carriages or units which have guide parts which engage in the conveying chassis at a greater distance from one another. The transport carriages are provided with elongated drive parts which extend in the direction of advance of the carrying units and are designed to interact with linear motors which are fixed in fixed positions along the conveyor chassis.

In this type of sorting conveyors, it is known to bring the storage trays to tilt with a tilting device, the tilting device controlling the actuating arm via a cam follower roller in a setting that causes the tray to tilt. It is already there known from European patent specification EP 0 173 399 B1 to control the cam follower roller into the setting by means of a controlled movement transverse to the conveying direction.

This creates the mechanism to selectively tilt the storage trays. Depending on the conveying speed, the tilting of the storage tray is even supported by the sorting material sliding outwards at the start of the tilting process, because the center of gravity of the storage tray inevitably shifts outwards to the unloading station.

However, the problem with the above-mentioned tilting conveyor is fundamentally the fact that the piece goods parts to be tipped can have very different sliding properties due to their external properties, which in particular with comparatively heavy and not particularly slip-resistant piece goods parts in a considerable mechanical stress on the guide link or even moving back Tray can lead to its basic position. In such a case, the result is a new one

Try to sort or even manually sort this general cargo part, which affects the performance of the sorting conveyor.

This problem can be solved by increasing the maximum feasible tilt angle. The comparatively poorly sliding general cargo parts are then accelerated sufficiently. The piece goods parts, which are already sliding well anyway, could then become too fast and possibly roll over, as a result of which the address which is usually located on the top is reversed downwards or to the side.

This disadvantage could now be remedied with a corresponding design of the storage tray. It is thus the case that when sorting piece goods there should be a high degree of flexibility in adapting the sorting conveyor in order to accommodate different storage trays and tilt angles to realize. The sorting conveyors known from the prior art make no contribution to this.

The invention is therefore based on the object of specifying a sorting conveyor which can be equipped in a particularly needs-based manner and also carries out the sorting of comparatively heavy and not particularly slippery piece goods parts safely and reliably.

This object is achieved according to the invention in a sorting conveyor of the type mentioned at the outset in that a) the transport carriages have a support unit for the storage trays which can be pivoted about a tilting axis; b) a lever arm that can be steered into a backdrop and engages on the support unit is provided; c) the transport carriages comprise a base module receiving the carrying unit; and d) the base module has guide means for the tilting movement of the supporting unit and a lifting movement of the lever arm which triggers the tilting movement.

In this way, the tilting device engages directly on the carrying unit, so that different storage trays can be used and the storage trays can be exchanged easily. Furthermore, the pressure of the part of the piece of goods acting according to gravity will be absorbed particularly well in the transport carriage, because the lever arm is guided in the base module provided with the guides and is also held therein. In addition, a particularly simple construction of the transport trolleys is achieved with the creation of the basic module. For example, a two-part basic module is conceivable, which consists of two halves that are mirror-inverted to each other, which have guideways in the form of cavities designed as guide means, and thus also restrict the mobility of the carrying unit and the lever arms in each case in a two-dimensional plane. Different tilt angles can easily can be achieved by choosing an appropriate basic module.

In a particularly advantageous use of this construction of the transport carriage described above, it is provided that the lever arms and thus also the storage trays are locked in their basic and tilted positions. In this way, it is possible for the storage trays to remain securely in their tilted position without the tilting mechanism having to continue to be guided in a setting that is at one

Loading with in particular comparatively heavy and not particularly slippery general cargo parts would otherwise be comparatively heavily loaded mechanically. Due to the shortened guidance in the scenery, the size of the scenery and the acoustic noise pollution of the personnel due to the deflection roller running in the scenery are comparatively small.

Another particular advantage of this embodiment mentioned above can be exploited in that the lever arm can be guided in a two-dimensionally extending backdrop, because the lever arm only has to perform a linear movement essentially vertically upwards or downwards and tilted in the base module for this purpose is.

Another particularly advantageous embodiment of the invention provides that the lever arm acts on the support unit on a sliding fit without bearing, as a result of which an additional bearing and its assembly are not required.

In an alternative or supplementary development of the invention, a low overall depth of the sorting conveyor is achieved if the storage trays can be tilted on both sides and two mutually independently movable lever arms are provided which engage on the support unit on a sliding fit. In this way, only one of the two lever arms is used for tilting moved up or down, the support unit gliding past the other non-activated lever arm. This embodiment variant has a particularly favorable effect when the lever arm is actively pushing upward, because the other lever arm is not correspondingly pressed downward and therefore there is no space requirement for this lever arm, which is otherwise always passively moved in the prior art.

A particular advantage of this construction is that a maximum tilt angle of the support unit can be predetermined by an appropriate design of the guide means. In this way, different tilt angles can be implemented in a simple manner by means of correspondingly different base modules, as a result of which the lever arms and the support unit as such can remain unchanged.

A particularly preferred design ariante now provides that the lever arm has projecting cup-shaped cams and is guided by means of these cams in a substantially vertical guideway, the base and end positions being realized by a receptacle branching off the side of the guideway is.

A feature which increases the operational safety immensely provides, in an embodiment of the invention, that a lever arm tilting the support unit pivots the support unit at the start of the unlocking movement in such a way that an unlocking movement of the other lever arm is blocked. Another particularly reliable system is achieved if an addition to the above-mentioned feature is provided in such a way that the lever arms can be controlled into the link by means of a control element which can be guided in the control position, the control elements - viewed in the conveying direction - being arranged slightly offset from one another. This way A faulty control attempt (both control elements in the control position) only destroys the following control element in the conveying direction. Damage to the trolley and / or to the scenery can be avoided in this way. This means that the entire sorting conveyor can continue to be operated except for a destination that can then no longer be operated or can only be operated on one side, thereby contributing to a high availability of the sorting conveyor.

An alternative to the above-described embodiment provides for a two-part construction of the lever arm with an enveloping body and a deflecting lever, the enveloping body engaging on the sliding unit on a sliding fit and essentially being movable only in the stroke direction, and the deflecting lever being arranged essentially parallel in the enveloping body and is connected in an articulated manner to the enveloping body with its upper end facing the carrying unit and can be driven into the scenery with its opposite lower end. In this way, only a one-dimensional movement of the lever arm is ensured in the base module.

A particularly preferred embodiment of the tilting mechanism then consists in that a tilting and locking movement of the storage tray is achieved in that the lower end of the deflection lever for releasing the locked basic position within the dimensions of the enveloping body in a first pivoting direction, i.e. oriented in a direction substantially perpendicular to the stroke direction, is pivotable, is movable in the stroke direction to achieve the tilting movement and is pivotable for locking the tilted end position in a second pivoting direction, which is oriented antiparallel to the first pivoting direction.

Without the replacement of components, the above-mentioned construction enables a construction that is very simple to implement Way also the realization of very different tilt angles with locking of the tilted position when the base module and the deflection lever have mutually corresponding cams and receptacles for the cams, the cams and the receptacles being arranged one behind the other in the stroke direction.

To make it easier to find the correct locking position, a stop for limiting the tilting movement can be provided for the enveloping body and / or the carrying unit. The stop can be designed to be adjustable in height.

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention can be found in the remaining subclaims.

Embodiments of the invention are explained in more detail with reference to a drawing. Show:

Figure 1 shows a first schematic representation

Transport trolley of a sorting conveyor with a tray in the basic position and tilted position;

Figure 2 is a side view of the trolley according to Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows a second schematic representation

Transport trolley of a sorting conveyor with a tray in the basic position;

Figure 4 shows the second trolley according to Figure 3 with the tray in the tilted position; and

Figure 5 is a schematic representation of a third transport carriage of a sorting conveyor with a

Storage tray in the tilted position. The same reference numerals are used for parts of identical construction in FIGS. 1 to 5. Parts of the same design are identified with a single quote in the tilted position compared to the components in the basic position.

Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a first transport carriage 2, which is part of a rotating chain of transport carriages of a sorting conveyor not shown here. A conveying direction of the sorting conveyor runs perpendicular to the plane of the illustration.

The trolley 2 has a storage tray 6, 6 'mounted on a support unit 4, 4' for receiving piece goods parts not shown here. The support unit 4, 4 'is held pivotably about an axis 8 running parallel to the conveying direction and is shown in the figure in the position tilted to the right.

The support unit 4 with cam-shaped pins 10, 10 'is only guided with the deflection in an arcuate guideway 12 which is formed in a base module 14. The base module 14 thus also serves to carry the carrying unit 4 and provides a connection to drive elements of the sorting conveyor, not shown here, e.g. Linear motors, and the neighboring transport car.

Furthermore, lever arms 16, 16 'are also guided in the base module 14, in the present exemplary embodiment the lever arm 16' on the left-hand side causing the storage tray 6 to tilt by a stroke movement 18. To guide the lever arms 16, 16 'are also in the base module 14

Guideways 20, 22 with associated pins 24, 24 'and 26, 26', which are arranged on the lever arms 16, 16 ', are provided.

In order to be able to bring about the one-sided tilting of a storage tray 6, 6 ', it is provided that the lever arm arranged on the other side, here the Lever arm 6 'to control a link 28, 28' which, in the present exemplary embodiment, specifies a curve which is only two-dimensionally curved in space and which the lever arm 16 'has to follow. To guide the lever arm 16 'in the link 28, 28', the lever arms 16, 16 'have a friction-mounted cam follower roller 30, 30' which is driven into the link 28, 28 'by means of a control element (not shown here).

However, in order for the lever arm 16 'to be able to carry out the lifting movement 18, the lever arm 16' must first be released from its locking. The locking consists in that the roller-supported pin 26 ′ is mounted in the park position in a first bulge 32, which is located on the side of the guide track 22 and is part of the guide track 22, and is pivoted in a first pivoting direction 36 by means of a deflection roller 34. The deflection roller 34 would also be dispensable because the function of the deflection roller 34 can also be achieved directly by an attack on the cam follower roller if the control element is designed accordingly. The first pivot direction 36 is oriented essentially perpendicular to the stroke movement 18. The first pivoting movement takes place about the axis of the pin 24 '. The lifting movement 18 then follows with the tilting of the support unit 4 'and the storage tray 6'. The tilting movement shown is in this status. To lock the tilted position, there is finally a movement in a second pivoting direction 38 antiparallel to the first pivoting direction 36. The roller-supported pin 26 'then rests in a second bulge 40 laterally at the end of the vertically ascending section of the guideway 22 and can no longer directly down or be pressed at the top. This ensures that the storage tray 6 'remains permanently in the tilted position until the transport carriage 2 passes a reset link, not shown here, and a reverse movement of the lever arm 16' is achieved. The transmission of the lifting movement 18 from the lever arm 16 'to the support unit 4' is brought about by a sliding fit of the lever arm 16 'on a counter bearing of the support unit 4'. In this way, therefore, the other lever arm 16 is not moved as well, whereby the space required downwards is considerably reduced compared to a lever arm pivoting downwards. Furthermore, at the beginning of the lifting movement 18, the support unit 4 ′ is pivoted at the same time such that a lifting movement of the lever arm 16 is blocked. By the length of the guideways 20, 22 and

Circular arc section of the guideway 12 can also set the desired tilt angle within wide limits. The support unit 4, 4 'and the lever arms 16, 16' can remain unchanged.

FIG. 2 shows a side view of the transport carriage 2. In this view, it is particularly clear that the base module 14 comprises two parts 14a, 14b that are mirror images of one another. In this way, the

Carrying unit 4 and the lever arms 16 are guided particularly well in the inner guideways 12, 20, 22.

FIG. 3 shows a second transport carriage 42 of a sorting conveyor (not shown further here), in which a support unit 46 carrying a storage tray 44 is also provided, which is rotatably mounted about an axis 48. The support unit 46 and lever arms 50, 50 'are in turn held in a base module 54. Guide tracks 56, 58 are also provided in the base module 54 for guiding the lever arms 50, 50 ', the guide tracks 56 each having two bulges 60, 62. The upper bulge 62 serves to lock the basic position of the storage tray 44. Accordingly, the lower bulge 60 serves to lock the tilted position, as shown in FIG. 4. The lever arms 50, 50 'also have cam-shaped pins 64, 66, by means of which the guidance in the guideways 56, 58 is achieved.

As can be seen from FIG. 4, the difference of this exemplary embodiment compared to the previous exemplary embodiment according to FIGS. 1 and 2 is that the carrying unit 46 is not moved by an upward pushing movement (lifting movement 18) but by a pulling down movement (lifting movement 65). The rest of the procedure for unlocking and locking the two positions of the storage tray 44 was also adopted in this exemplary embodiment. Specifically, here - as already explained above - a movement of the swivel arm 50 'is provided on its cam follower roller 30' which can be steered into the link 28 'in the first and second swivel directions 36 and 38, respectively. This one too

In the exemplary embodiment, only one of the two lever arms 50, 50 'is moved for the tilting movement.

FIG. 5 shows a third transport carriage 68, in which, in contrast to the preceding exemplary embodiments, a two-part lever arm 70 with a modified functional mechanism is used. All other functional mechanisms correspond to those of the principles explained for the two previous exemplary embodiments.

The lever arm 70 has an enveloping body 72 and a swivel rod 74. The enveloping body 72 engages in a sliding fit on a support unit 76 'for the storage tray 6, 6' and is essentially only movable in the stroke direction 18. The pivot rod 74 is arranged to extend in the enveloping body 72. The upper end facing the support unit 76 is rotatably connected to the casing body 72 in a bearing 79; the opposite lower end can be driven into the link 28, 28 'with the cam follower roller 30.

The tilting and locking movement of the tray 6, 6 'is achieved in the present embodiment by the lower End of the pivot rod 74 is pivoted in the first pivot direction 36 within the dimensions of the enveloping body 72 to release the locked basic position. As a result of this pivoting movement, the roller-mounted pin 26, 26 ′ is made from a first one that extends laterally and perpendicularly

Guide path 78 located bulge 80 and is then moved to achieve the tilting movement in the stroke direction 18 together with the enveloping element 72. To lock the tilted end position, the pivot rod 74 has been pivoted into a second bulge 82 in the second pivot direction 38, which is oriented antiparallel to the first pivot direction 36.

A special feature of this exemplary embodiment is that the achievable tilt angle can be variably adjusted within certain limits. For this purpose, a base module 84 which guides the enveloping body 72 and the support unit 76 and the pivot rod 74 have cams 86 and receptacles 88 for the cams 86 which correspond to one another, the cams 86 and the receptacles 88 being arranged one behind the other in the stroke direction 18.

In order to make it easier to find the desired position of cams 86 and receptacles 88 relative to one another, which can be sensitive due to the comparatively fine grid, a stop 90 is provided for limiting the tilting movement for the carrying unit 76. This stop 90 is realized in the present case as an insert which can be inserted into the guide track 12 in which the support unit 76 is guided with its pin 10. Alternatively, the stop 90 can also be provided for the enveloping body 72 to limit its stroke movement 18. This would also have the advantage that the maximum tilt angle could be set from the outside in the case of a height-adjustable stop 90. Another alternative is to let the tray hit a stop during the tilting movement. The position of this stop themselves, for example, can be set using a backdrop. As a result, different tilting angles that can be adapted to the current requirements can be realized within one sorting conveyor with one and the same transport carriage.

LIST OF REFERENCE NUMBERS

2 first transport cars

4, 4 'support unit

6, 6 'storage tray

8 axis

10, 10 'pin

12 guideway

14 basic module

14a, 14b base module parts

16, 16 'lever arms

18 stroke movement 0, 22 guideways 4, 24 'pins 6, 26' roller-bearing pins 8, 28 * link 0, 30 'cam follower roller 2 first bulge 4 deflection roller 6 first pivoting direction 8 second pivoting direction 0 second bulge 2 second transport carriage 4 storage tray 6 support unit 8 axis 0, 50 'lever arms 4 base module 6, 58 guideways 0, 62 bulges 4, 66 cam-shaped pins 5 lifting movement 8 third transport carriage 0 lever arm 2 enveloping body 4 deflection lever 6 support rod 78 guideway

79 bearings

80 first bulge

82 second bulge

84 base module

86 cams

88 shots

90 stop

Claims

claims

1. Sorting conveyor with a number of transport trolleys (2, 42, 68) which laterally tiltable storage trays (6, 6 ', 44, 44') for piece goods to be sorted, with a) the transport trolleys (2, 42, 68) one have a support unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) for the storage tray (6, 6 ', 44, 44') which can be pivoted about a tilting axis; b) a lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) which can be steered into a link (28, 28 ') and which engages on the support unit (4, 4', 46, 46 ', 76) is provided; c) the transport carriages (2, 42, 68) comprise a base module (14, 54, 84) accommodating the carrying unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76); and d) the base module (14, 54, 84) guide means (12, 20, 22, 56, 58, 78) for the tilting movement of the support unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) and a lifting movement triggering the tilting movement of the lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70).

2. Sorting conveyor according to claim 1, characterized in that the storage trays (6, 6 ', 44, 44') are held lockable in their basic position and in their tilted end position.

3. Sorting conveyor according to claim 2, characterized in that the lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) for locking in a

Direction (36, 38) substantially perpendicular to the stroke direction

(18) is feasible.

4. Sorting conveyor according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) can be guided in a two-dimensional backdrop (28, 28 ').

5. Sorting conveyor according to one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) on the support unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) acts on the sliding seat without bearing ,

6. Sorting conveyor according to one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the storage trays (6, 6 ', 44, 44') can be tilted on both sides and two mutually independently movable lever arms (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70 ) are provided, which engage on the support unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) on a sliding fit.

7. Sorting conveyor according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that in the base module (14, 54, 84) as guide means guideways (12, 20, 22, 56, 58, 78) for the tilting movement of the support unit (4, 4 ' , 46, 46 ', 76) and the lifting and locking movement of the lever arms (16, 16', 50, 50 ', 70) are provided.

8. Sorting conveyor according to claim 7, characterized in that a maximum tilt angle of the support unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) can be predetermined by a corresponding design of the guide means (12, 20, 22, 56, 58, 78) ,

9. Sorting conveyor according to claims 7 or 8, characterized in that the lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) has projecting cup-shaped cams (24, 24 ', 26, 26', 64, 66, 86) and by means of these cams (24, 24 ', 26, 26', 64, 66, 86) is guided in a substantially perpendicular guide track (20, 22, 56, 58, 78), the basic and end positions being each by one from the guideway (20, 22, 56, 58, 78) laterally branching receptacle (32, 40, 60, 62, 80, 82) is realized.

10. Sorting conveyor according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that a supporting arm (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) tilting lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) the supporting unit (4th , 4 ', 46, 46 \ 76) is already pivoted at the beginning of the unlocking movement in such a way that an unlocking movement of the other lever arm (16, 16', 50, 50 ', 70) is blocked.

11. Sorting conveyor according to claim 10, characterized in that the lever arms (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) can be driven into the link (28, 28 ') by means of a control element which can be guided in the control position, the control elements - in Direction of conveyance seen - are slightly offset from each other.

12. Sorting conveyor according to one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that the lever arm (16, 16 ', 50, 50', 70) is broken down in two parts and has an enveloping body (72) and a deflection lever (74), the enveloping body (72) engages on the sliding unit on the support unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) and is essentially only movable in the stroke direction (18, 65) and the deflecting lever (74) runs essentially parallel in the envelope body (72) is arranged and with its upper end facing the support unit (4, 4 ', 46, 46', 76) is connected in an articulated manner to the enveloping body (72) and can be driven into the link (28, 28 ') with its opposite lower end.

13. Sorting conveyor according to claim 12, characterized in that a tilting and locking movement of the tray (6, 6 ', 44, 44') is achieved by the lower end of the deflection lever (74) to release the locked basic position within the dimensions of the enveloping body (72) in a first pivoting direction (36), ie in a direction essentially perpendicular to the stroke direction (18, 65), is pivotable, to achieve the tilting movement in the stroke direction ( 18, 65) is movable and for locking the tilted end position in a second pivoting direction (38) which is oriented antiparallel to the first pivoting direction (36).

14. Sorting conveyor according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the base module (84) and the deflection lever (74) have mutually corresponding cams (86) and receptacles (88) for the cams (86), the cams (86) and the receptacles (88) are arranged one behind the other in the stroke direction (18).

15. Sorting conveyor according to claim 14, characterized in that a stop (90) for limiting the tilting movement for the enveloping body (72) and / or the support unit (76) are provided.